Councillor Welcomes Improvement in Reducing Delayed Discharge from Hospital

The total number of patients experiencing a delay in discharge from hospital has been significantly reduced as the result of concerted action by NHS Highland and The Highland Council.

Members of the Joint Committee for Action in Community Care have been advised that the total has been reduced to only 10 – 24 fewer than the target figure set by the Scottish Executive and 88 fewer than recorded in September, last year.

The dramatic improvement is the result of the implementation of a seven-point action plan and the dedication of additional resources.

Councillor David Flear, Vice Chair of the Joint Committee for Action on Community Care, warmly welcomed the partnership’s performance against the national delayed discharge targets.

Strenuous efforts had been made to deliver improvement, including a weekly reporting regime and regular briefings to senior management of NHS Highland and the Council.

Councillor Flear said: "I very much welcome the latest figures which vastly exceed the national target. This good news is as a direct result of good partnership working, hard work and application of our staff and managers at a local level.  The credit must go to the staff, who have achieved a great result from a difficult starting position.  We need to recognise, however, that we have applied a lot of resources to this, and that we must maintain this performance year round to ensure that people are not delayed unnecessarily in hospital."